High initial production indicates potential of BP’s Mancos Shale assets

BP has brought online a highly productive natural gas well in the Mancos Shale, highlighting the potential of the New Mexico field to be a significant new source of US natural gas supply.

Early production rates at the NEBU 602 Com 1H well in San Juan County are the highest achieved in the past 14 years within the San Juan Basin, a large oil and gas producing area spanning southwest Colorado and northeast New Mexico that includes the Mancos Shale. The well achieved an average 30-day initial production rate of 12.9 million cu ft per day.

The well test took place on assets BP acquired in late 2015, which expanded the company’s existing position in the San Juan Basin and provided improved access to the Mancos Shale.

“We are delighted with the initial production rate of this well,” Dave Lawler, CEO of BP’s US Lower 48 onshore business, said. “This result supports our strategic view that significant resource potential exists in the San Juan Basin and gives us confidence to pursue additional development of the Mancos Shale, which we believe could become one of the leading shale plays in the US.”

The NEBU 602 Com 1H well was drilled with a 10,000-ft lateral in an area known as the Northeast Blanco Unit, a section of federal lands located in San Juan and Rio Arriba counties of New Mexico, where BP has had a presence since the 1920s.

In early 2015 BP began operating its US Lower 48 business as a separate business, with its own governance, processes and systems. Since then, the business has achieved significant financial and operational improvements, largely through the use of innovative drilling and completions techniques and the application of data analytics. It has also increased production and added acreage through acquisitions – all while maintaining a commitment to safety and the environment.

BP Lower 48 expects to open a new headquarters office in Denver in 2018 that will be closer to the majority of its operated oil and natural gas production assets and proved reserves in the Rocky Mountain region.